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The Hiring Process

I found an interesting article on Businessweek on Friday. This article is important for three reasons: 1) I will be entering the job market later this year.

2) I am currently in school and learning about the business of media.

3) I know workers who easily fit into the category of “three people to fire immediately.” I bring this up merely to point out that I need to work hard to ensure I do not take on their bad work habits.

The thing that really stands out in the article for me is the second type of person, the entrepreneur. Author Mark Briggs would say this is the most relevant type of person in regards to media jobs. This article reinforces the person of having creative people on a team. Media people are now expected to think in entrepreneurial ways. The previous article on the types of people to fire, not hire, actually seems more instructive. There are the nonbelievers who simply cannot innovate because they assume failure from the get-go. People who succeed assume success and find ways to succeed, even if the boss shoots their ideas down initially. The third type of person to fire, the know-it-all, is less common but no less detrimental to innovation. Innovators find new ways of seeing things, while know-it-all people can only see things with tired eyes. They are smart, but not innovative. This concept reminds me of Dylan’s “My Back Pages.” Bob Dylan sings of how the older a person gets, the more their perspective on life changes and they begin to realize how little they really know. Young people have a tendency to think they know it all. Older people tend to be more aware of just how little they really know. The young people who always a fresh set of eyes to matter are the ones who create, the entrepreneurs who get hired. I will discuss the recently-seen “Moneyball” in my next post.

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2 thoughts on “The Hiring Process”

Erich,
I loved “Moneyball” by the way. I agree with what you posted, especially the know-it-all types. I think with innovation you have to prepare yourself for the unexpected, and you have to approach a developing concept with, as you put it, a fresh set of eyes or perspective. I think this is why so many news organizations are struggling. Some people in upper management are afraid of change, or they’re afraid of failure. Well, you have to fail to succeed. I think if you go into anything with the attitude of this may not work out, then at least you’ll have two positive outcomes. First, you may prove yourself wrong, and second, you’ll learn something and know what steps to take to not make the same mistake again. How can you lose with those options?

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–either way you’re right.” – Henry Ford

Interesting post Erich. I think it’s so important these days to look at things from a fresh perspective (which I am guilty of failing to do sometimes). I think if you have a new and creative idea that isn’t completely unrealistic, it’s important that you go for it. I’ve never had a boss that completely turned down an idea that was fully fleshed out and interesting, even if it wasn’t 100 percent perfect quite yet. Innovation is key, which is why I love Mark Briggs’ work so much. It’s obvious from the real world examples that a career without innovation won’t turn out to be much of a career at all.